Economist and Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana, Prof. Godfred Bokpin, has raised concerns about the high cost of operationalising the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), saying the entire gold value chain must be carefully examined.
Speaking on TV3’s The Key Points on Saturday, August 22, Prof. Bokpin said the country must look beyond the establishment of GoldBod and assess the costs involved in running the gold trading system.
“We celebrated the introduction of GoldBod, but the cost of operationalising it is huge. The entire value chain must be examined,” he said.
His comments come amid an ongoing debate over reported losses associated with the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme and whether those losses should be attributed to GoldBod or the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
Commenting on the reported US$1.7 billion loss, Prof. Bokpin questioned why it took an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report to draw attention to the transactional losses.
“Why did it have to take the IMF to bring out attention to all these so-called transactional losses? It’s about time we begin telling ourselves the truth,” he said.
Former High Commissioner to India, Mike Oquaye Jnr., also weighed in on the debate, arguing that the location of the loss in the accounts does not change the fact that a loss occurred.
“Whether the loss is sitting on the books of GoldBod or the Bank of Ghana, wasn’t there a loss?” he asked.
He said the issue should concern all Ghanaians and called for serious questions to be asked about the programme and its financial implications.
Economic Policy Analyst Senyo Hosi, however, maintained that the losses associated with the gold programme belong on the books of the Bank of Ghana rather than GoldBod.
According to Mr Hosi, the policy is a central bank initiative, with GoldBod acting as an agent and operator.
“There is no loss sitting on GoldBod; rather, it sits on the Bank of Ghana,” he said.
Dr Adu Owusu Sarkodie, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of Ghana, expressed a similar view, saying the reported loss should not be treated solely as a GoldBod issue.
He, however, argued that GoldBod should also accept responsibility if it takes credit for the accumulation of gold reserves.
“The $1.7 billion loss sits in the books of the BoG. But if GoldBod is claiming credit for the reserve accumulation, then it should accept blame,” he said.
Dr Sarkodie further criticised what he described as the politicisation of the GoldBod debate, arguing that attention should instead focus on reducing the costs associated with the programme.
“We have over-politicised this GoldBod loss. Let’s rather focus on optimisation of the cost and fixing the forex differentials,” he said.
He also questioned why the Bank of Ghana and GoldBod did not provide an explanation of the reported losses before the IMF raised the issue.
In his view, early communication from the two institutions could have helped clarify the matter and prevented the confusion surrounding the reported figures.
“We should have heard from BoG or GoldBod before the IMF. That would have cured the noise. We have over-politicised the loss,” he said.
Meanwhile, GoldBod Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, has rejected claims that the institution withheld financial information from the Auditor-General.
Speaking at the government’s Accountability Series on Wednesday, August 19, Mr Gyamfi said the audit team had unrestricted access to the documents it requested while examining GoldBod’s 2025 accounts.
He challenged the media to verify the matter directly with the Auditor-General, insisting that all documents requested by the audit team were provided and that issues raised in the management letter were addressed.
Mr Gyamfi said the Auditor-General’s report recorded an operational surplus of GH¢909.7 million and an overall surplus of GH¢5.44 billion for GoldBod in the 2025 financial year.
“We have not made any losses as claimed by the Minority Leader,” he said, describing the allegation as false.
His comments followed claims by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin that the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme recorded losses exceeding US$1.7 billion, equivalent to about GH¢22 billion, in 2025.
Mr Afenyo-Markin cited IMF Country Report No. 26/213 and argued that GoldBod’s reported surplus did not provide the complete picture because some transaction costs were allegedly absorbed by the Bank of Ghana.
Mr Gyamfi rejected the interpretation and cautioned against attributing statements to the IMF that it had not made.
He pointed out that the Bank of Ghana recorded losses under the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme even before GoldBod was established.
“There was no GoldBod in 2024,” he said, referring to a separate US$400 million loss attributed to 2024 in the IMF report.
The debate over GoldBod losses therefore remains centred on how the programme’s costs and transactions should be accounted for and which institution should ultimately bear responsibility for the reported financial impact.
By : Rachael Djabakie